Hello everyone, this is Oliver G here from the Airful Tower and there is nothing worse than a long podcast introduction.

So with that in mind, this is chapter 3 of my 2020 memoir, Paris on Air.

I hope you enjoy it and I'll be back at the end with a little more info.

Let's do it.

Chapter 3.

The French countryside, difficult bankers and and a blowout birthday party in a castle.

3.1. Birthday plans.

Hey, you know, you should hire a castle for your 30th birthday. You can totally get them cheap

in the French countryside,

said Shelley, an American friend in Paris. Even though I'd spent over a year in Paris at this point,

these kind of sentences still sounded odd to me. I suppose it was something to do with my upbringing in Australia, where we don't have things like old castles in the countryside. We don't have

any old buildings at all, really.

Not like in Europe.

In fact, the oldest thing in my Australian hometown was the lady next door.

I wonder whatever happened to her.

Oliver! Oliver!

Ollie!

Wake up!

Said Shelley, snapping me back into the room.

It's simple. You just type Chateau into Airbnb and set it to France. If everyone chipped

in, you could get something amazing for a full weekend. Several months had passed since the

attacks and people were looking for distractions. The trauma had brought many people closer

...